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Esports
G2 Esports on their wildly successful year in LEC
After taking home the trophy at both the LEC Spring and Summer Finals, and winning on the international stage with the Mid-Season Invitational, what’s next for G2?
What a year for G2 Esports. The inaugural season of the League of Legends European Championship is now at a close – with only Regional Finals left to play for a few of the other top teams – G2 can lift their heads high as winners of both the Spring and Summer, having etched their name into the brand new trophy twice already.
Add to that a great showing on the international stage, beating out South Korea and North America’s top teams in SK Telecom T1 and Team Liquid, hoisting up the Mid-Season Invitational trophy in the process, there’s no doubt that the past 12 months have been a roller coaster ride of the highest proportions.
With the Summer Finals now behind them, G2 have one more thing left to conquer this year: the League of Legends World Championship. With their ticket already locked down for this year’s Worlds, G2 look like one of the favourites to head deep into the tournament, and with this year’s edition taking place on home soil you can bet they’re feeling confident in taking on the world’s best teams.
EU’s finest
Perkz admires his hard work
© Riot Games
“I think our Summer Split has been really good. We played some really good games and some of them were exceptionally good and we are really trying to improve game by game – and we are not trolling at all,” Marcin ‘Jankos’ Jankowski tells us with a hearty laugh. “I think we are on a good way for Worlds right now.”
The Polish jungler’s season has equally been high: at the LEC Finals in Athens, he was named the MVP Player of the Split, and it’s easy to see why: his performances over the entire Summer have been nothing short of spectacular, and he’s been a crucial component of the squad heading into the Finals. Jankos is rather modest, however, and even with all his accolades, he still thinks there’s work to be done.
“Well I think there is some room for growth,” he says, “But in a current state I think we can be the best team in the world.”
G2’s bot laner, Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković, has had an interesting year, moving from his previous midlane position down to the botlane to accommodate the arrival of star Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, but he’s been able to adapt and move, and has been a vital part of the team. When asked on how he feels his performance has been this year, he modestly answers, “I think we all played quite well individually.”
Jankos is your LEC Summer MVP
© Riot Games
G2 finished up the Spring regular season on top of the table with a 13 - 5 record, and went even better in the Summer with a 15 - 3 win/lose ratio, showing a clear dominance throughout both splits. Yet, even with a commanding presence in both seasons, there were still plenty of challenges and differences between the Spring and Summer.
“Well Garen and Yuumi was really pretty good. Also we had some cheeses with Fnatic coming in – and then Rogue fighting back after Spring Split,” Caps tells us. “Maybe they weren’t necessarily on our immediate radar.”
“I think the meta of the Spring and the Summer Split is kind of similar,” Jankos explains. “Except for a few new champions, nothing changed too much. But I think that the champions we played during MSI, for example, are the same champions that are in the meta right now.
“I think every team comp is fun to play; I would probably prefer being on like an assassin so maybe if my team picks some waveclear and I can get to do some big plays, other than that I do enjoy playing every champion,” Caps adds when discussing champions. “I think some moderation is really important when you pick champions, like sometimes playing different ones is fun. I think if you only pick the same than it gets boring. I like it when they do patch notes which happens every two weeks, and then they change the meta. I’m a big fan of that, and I just like it when they do big changes and buffs to midlaners,” he laughs.
Martin ‘Wunder’ Nordahl Hansen adds, “I do like playing a lot of tanks. I think it’s very good to have big beefy toplaners and it synergises very well with our wave clear midlaners.”
Eyes on the prize
Can they repeat this moment at Worlds?
© Riot Games
With the Summer trophy firmly in the G2 trophy cabinet, all eyes are on the team for Worlds next, which kicks off in October – and the team has started prepping for what’s sure to be an exciting event. In 2018, G2 made it all the way to the semi final before dropping out to Invictus Gaming, who would then go on to beat Fnatic in a thrilling final, but with much more experience under their belt – and with the confidence of being the best in Europe – G2 surely have high expectations.
“Usually I would lose in Groups, so making it out of Groups would be my first goal,” says Perkz, “But obviously we want to win the whole thing.”
“Making it out of Groups would be cool,” Mikyx adds, “But I also wouldn’t mind winning it all.“
With it being on home soil, too, it’s an exciting time for the team – and especially for the fans. “Worlds in Europe is pretty cool also because it’s just a short flight, so it’s easier for European fans to come watch,” Perkz concludes.
After a year in LEC, and having the G2 name etched twice on the trophy, we quiz the team on their thoughts on the whole new rebrand – and whether this has taken the EU vs. NA meme to new heights.
“It’s pretty cool, we’ve got cold Red Bulls in the fridge which is awesome,” says Mikyx. “The new LEC logo looks pretty cool as well, and it’s great to see that there are more and more brands entering the space.
“Also compared to previous years, especially since 2016 when I was watching NA and I thought ‘wow NA is so cool’, but now I think that EU is so far ahead compared to all other regions, especially in terms of content,” Perkz adds. “The content is really creative and funny and it feels like EU has its own memes and it’s not all about just World memes. I think the new LEC is the best thing that could have happened to EU.”
